The invention relates to a sleeve insert and a sleeve, respectively, for guiding optical waveguide elements and for accommodating a splicing device.
A technical problem occurring frequently is the clear and secure arrangement and placement of optical waveguide elements, for example multifiber buffers and ribbon fibers including their excessive lengths. Especially in modern telecommunications, for example when large optical fiber networks or conventional cable networks are used, the problem of clearly and securely placing the individual fibers after the splicing of a fiber bundle occurs time and again. Naturally, this should preferably occur in the immediate vicinity of the usual splicing devices, for example splicing cassettes or splice enclosures in which the fiber bundle is actually spliced.
The usual practice was, therefore, to arrange the splicing devices in a sleeve and to fix them in it. The sleeve can be a so-called cap sleeve or a through sleeve. A cap sleeve consists of an approximately dish-shaped closing element and a cap-shaped main part in which the splicing device and the optical waveguide elements including the excess lengths are arranged and which is connected to the closing element in order to form a closed sleeve. In the case of a through sleeve, dish-shaped closing elements are provided at both ends and, together with the main part, form a closed sleeve. The disadvantage of the known sleeves, however, is that the optical waveguide elements are run without any type of arrangement in this cassette package. In the case of maintenance, therefore, it is very difficult to find the correct multifiber buffers or fibers in each case.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a new sleeve insert or, respectively, a sleeve which provides for clear and secure arrangement of the optical waveguide elements, that is to say of the multifiber buffers and ribbon fibers and for the accommodation of splicing devices in one sleeve.
According to the invention, the object is achieved by a sleeve insert for guiding optical waveguide elements and for accommodating a splicing device, which is characterized in that it has a profiled body, the length of which must be adapted to the dimension of the respective sleeve, that the profiled body has two mutually opposite side walls which are constructed spaced apart from one another on a bottom wall so that the side walls and the bottom wall form a chamber, that the side walls have at their end facing away from the bottom wall in each case a guide wall which extend to the side facing away from the chamber, and that the bottom wall has at each of its ends a guide wall on both sides, in which arrangement, in addition to the chamber, three guide chambers arranged around the former are formed for accommodating and guiding optical waveguide elements in each case by means of two guide walls and the side walls and, respectively, the bottom wall. By means of this profiled body and, respectively, the chambers and guide chambers formed therein, a proper arrangement or management of the optical waveguide elements including the excess lengths and of the splicing devices is possible. The optical waveguide elements are conducted by the closing element into the interior of the sleeve or, respectively, into the profiled body where they are spliced in a splicing cassette or in a splice enclosure which are in each case arranged in one of the chambers, and the excess lengths of the optical waveguide elements or, respectively, of the multifiber buffers and ribbon fibers are then conducted from the splicing device into the adjoining chambers where they are properly placed. This results in clear and simple management of excess lengths.
An advantageous embodiment of the sleeve insert according to the invention is characterized in that the chamber is constructed for accommodating a splicing cassette. The chamber, which is slightly larger, is suitable for accommodating the splicing cassette, in which the optical waveguide elements leading to the splicing cassette and the optical waveguide elements coming from the splicing cassette can be conducted in a simple manner over the end edges of the profiled body and then into the adjoining guide chambers.
A further advantageous embodiment of the sleeve insert according to the invention is characterized in that one of the guide chambers is constructed for accommodating a splice enclosure. This makes it possible to arrange a splicing of the optical waveguide element clearly in one of the guide chambers.
A further advantageous embodiment of the sleeve insert according to the invention is characterized in that the side walls are constructed to be double-walled. This increases the stability of the sleeve insert.
A further advantageous embodiment of the sleeve insert according to the invention is characterized in that the double-walled side walls are constructed as latching means for attaching a cover and/or an attachment element. Attachment elements can be, for example, elastic legs which rest against the inside wall of the sleeve and thus hold the insert in the sleeve. The cover can be advantageously used for further protection and for additional guidance of the multifiber buffers accommodated.
A sleeve according to the invention with a main part and a closing element at one end of the main part or two closing elements at both ends of the main part, has a sleeve insert of the part described above. This advantageously results in a sleeve, the interior of which is equipped in such a manner that proper management of excess lengths in the interior of the sleeve is possible due to the construction of the profiled body.
An advantageous embodiment of the sleeve insert according to the invention is characterized in that the sleeve is a through sleeve, the incoming optical waveguide elements being inserted into the interior of the through sleeve through one connecting element and being brought out again through the closing element at the opposite end of the cap of the through sleeve. Here, too, the excess lengths of the optical waveguide elements are accommodated properly in the relevant guide chambers or, respectively, the main chamber.
An advantageous embodiment of the sleeve insert according to the invention is characterized in that the sleeve is a cap sleeve, the optical waveguide elements being inserted, and brought out again out of the sleeve through one and the same closing elements. In this type of sleeve, too, the profiled body ensures proper management of excess lengths.
A great advantage of the invention consists in that the same profiled body can be used for all sleeve lengths. In the field, for example, it is possible to shorten the profiled body to the length possible for the sleeve only on site.